In order to provide a wireless broadband access and high data transfer rates at homes, base stations deployed at homes and communicating with user terminals have been available in the markets for some time. Wireless base stations or routers communicating with user terminals according to the IEEE 802.11x standard (Wireless Local Area Network or Wi-Fi) have been available for years but, recently, private base stations communicating according to cellular radio telecommunication standards have entered the markets. The private base stations are typically associated with uncoordinated deployment, i.e. the network infrastructure and coverage of a cellular telecommunication system is not based on the geographical deployment of the private base stations. A private base station may be called by many names, including Home Base Station, Home NodeB, femto eNodeBs, or simply Home Access, and it has become a popular topic within operator and manufacturer communities.
The private base station is a consumer product for uncoordinated deployment, which is not under the control of an operator of a cellular network. The private base station may be located on a different frequency layer than public base stations. For example, one frequency layer of 5 MHz in W-CDMA (Wide-Band Code Division Multiple Access) may be used in a public cell and a separate frequency layer for the private deployment, the private base station being also potentially intended to serve as a public capacity enhancement layer.
It can be assumed that an end-user buys an economic private base station and installs the private base station as a physical entity at his home. The private base station then provides coverage and service to user equipment registered by the owner of the private base station. The private base station may be connected via a DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) and via a core network of the operator towards the Internet. The core network of the operator typically comprises one or more network nodes providing the user equipment with IP (Internet Protocol) connection. In more detail, data packets sent/received by the user equipment are transferred between the user equipment and a peer entity (for example an Internet server or another user equipment) through the one or more network nodes.